Paris: Rafael Nadal will open his quest for a ninth French Open crown with a tie against US veteran wildcard Robby Ginepri following Friday’s draw. The 27-year-old Spaniard has a 59-1 win record at Roland Garros since he first appeared in Paris in 2005, his only loss being to Robin Soderling of Sweden in a 2009 fourth round match.
But Nadal’s uncustomary struggles on clay in the build-up to Roland Garros means that he is not the outstanding favourite he usually is, with world number two Novak Djokovic also fancied to win what would be his first French Open title. Djokovic will start with a match against Portugal’s Joao Sousa and could meet dangerous Croat Marin Cilic in the third round.
If he comes through those, the Serb could face Canada’s Milos Raonic, who ran him close last week in Rome, in the quarterfinals. Roger Federer is a potential semi-final opponent if the Swiss fourth seed can get past Tomas Berdych in the third quarter of the draw.
On the women’s side, Serena Williams is set for a third round clash with sister Venus. The defending champion and top seed will open her 13th campaign at Roland Garros with a match against young French wildcard Alize Lim, while Venus, who went out in the first round last year, starts against Belinda Bencic of Switzerland. If she makes it through to the last eight, her opponent could be seventh seed Maria Sharapova who she beat in last year’s final.
